The Christmas controversy revisited...

I wasn't going to address the "not having church on Christmas" issue any more, but I think I need too for several reasons:

1. We never dreamed that this would be as controversial as it has become when we made a decision a few months ago to forgo services on Christmas Sunday in lue of doing 16 services on Friday and Saturday, Christmas eve.  I guess we were somewhat naive.
2. Today's local paper did a front page story on it.  You can read it here.
3. I have received quite a bit of response...ranging from "Why is it such a big deal?"...to "I've got an honest question"...to some pretty personal and negative stuff.

Let me start with a note that my brother Geoff is sending to the newspaper that kind of sums up our feelings on this...and then I'll try to take a look at what we can learn about the decision making process.  First the note:

"The article “Churches Taking the Day off for Christmas” may have left the impression that Seacoast Church is downplaying the celebration of Jesus’ birth this year when just the opposite is true; we will have more Christmas services in 2005 than ever before. It has been our tradition at Seacoast since the beginning to gather as a church to honor Christ on Christmas Eve and to gather with our families and friends to honor Christ on Christmas Day; this year will be no exception. While we do not meet on Christmas Day, we certainly honor the churches that do. Christmas is a beautiful tapestry made up of many traditions all celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior; at Seacoast we are honored to be a part of that tapestry."

I thought Geoff did a great job of expressing what our heart is on the matter.

The decision came down to just a few things:

1. It has always been our tradition to celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas Eve as a church family.
2. It has never been our tradition to have a service on Christmas Day.  (There may have been one exception early on, when Christmas fell on a Sunday).
3. We have always tried to teach families how to celebrate the Lord's birth together on Christmas Day.  I have done several messages through the years on that topic.  (Worship together, pray together, share together, give together).  That being said, we have no problem with churches or families who want to have church on Christmas day.
4. We ask our staff to be a part of the Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve.  We feel like it is an important time to serve and connect with our entire body.  The same is true of Easter.
5. We felt it important to allow our staff families to celebrate with their families on Christmas the same as we encourage everyone else too.  (I may be a little sensitive to this...having grown up in a pastors home).
6. Consumerism and convenience never factored into the decision.  I'm not sure how that plays into the whole discussion.
7. The number of people who might or might not attend on Sunday morning never factored into the decision.  You can have church with 10 or 100 or 1000, it doesn't matter.

Was it a good decision?

We think so...obviously some don't...I guess if everyone agreed on everything then life wouldn't be as colorful as it is.  The only thing I would add is:  If we disagree, let's do it in an agreeable way...fair enough?

More importantly...was it a God honoring decision?  How do you make wise choices?  What can we learn about decision making in our own lives?

Just because we (Seacoast) have always done it that way, doesn't make it right.  We all need to examine our choices in light of "what does the Bible say?".

As I see it...there are two issues involved here that we need to apply that question too:

1. "What does the Bible say about Christmas Day services?"

The answer to that is nothing.  The Bible is silent about the issue.  It would seem that early Christians didn't celebrate the holiday at all.  Sometime in the first 200 years a date of January 6th was established as the day to remember Christ's birth.  In AD 354 Christmas was moved to December 25th, which coincided with many pagan celebrations.  Many believe that the Church successfully took the merriment, lights, and gifts from competing festivals and gave them a new meaning in the Christmas celebration.  (Greg's commentary:  Don't let a spirit of Scrooge steal the joy of the season by focusing on how awful the commercialism is...yeah, it's over the top alright...but I'm not going to loose my joy by getting sour in a constant mode of protest...I'll just put limits on my spending and remember the less fortunate and continue to celebrate the Incarnate Christ...in my opinion we need to learn more about what the OT called "feasts" or celebrations and put Scrooge to bed early.)  Carol singing, yule logs, trees, parades etc...were added as Christmas customs down through the years.  The Bible doesn't encourage or forbid Christmas day services.

    2.   "What does the bible say about Sunday worship as opposed to Saturday worship?"

To me...this is the real issue.  Very few people cared that churches like ours did not have a tradition of Christmas day services until Christmas fell on a Sunday.  The thought of not having church on Sunday is where the rub is, I think.  So, do you always have to have church on Sunday?  What about Saturday services that many churches have weekly?  What about Saturday mass in a Catholic church?  What about the nearly 1,000 people who attend church on Saturday night at the Long Point campus who may never attend church on a Sunday?  Is that okay?  Is that a violation of scripture?  Just because we do it doesn't make it right.  It needs to be rooted in "what does the Bible say?"

Let me quote from two quite different sources on that one...both interviewed by WorldNetDaily on the subject:

First, James Efird, professor of Biblical interpretation at Duke University Divinity School says "As far as I know there is no verse which specifies that Sunday is the day for Christians to observe the Sabbath."

Neither the words Saturday nor Sunday appear anywhere in most translations of the Bible.

Second, "The church always met on Sunday throughout the New Testament," says Rev. Jerry Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University in Virginia. "Saturday is clearly the Sabbath as is recorded many times in the Old Testament. In Christian Church tradition, Sunday became 'the Lord's Day' when Jesus rose from the grave."

The actual times of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are not universally agreed on either.

"I personally believe he was crucified on Wednesday evening ... and rose after 6 p.m. Saturday evening," Falwell tells WorldNetDaily. "Others believe he died on Friday ... But the point is, he did rise on Sunday, which, in Jewish tradition, started the evening before at 6 p.m."

Falwell is among those who believe which day is chosen is not of great significance.

"I don't think Saturday or Sunday are more sacred than other days," he says.

For the first few hundred years different parts of the Church gathered on either Saturday or Sunday usually depending on the view of the presiding bishop in the town the church was located. 

While Hebrews 10:25 encourages us not to "give up meeting together as some are in habit of doing", there seems to be liberty intended in determining the specific day that we meet and the frequency of meetings.

In Colosians 2:16 Paul says "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath-Day".  Sounds to me like the spirit of that scripture could apply to the current subject.

The bottom line for us? 

It was never our intent to be controversial nor to judge the traditions and celebrations of others.  We have always attempted to be faithful to the written will of God as the Spirit helps us understand it.  We don't always get it right...and we try to be honest about that, too. 

Hopefully this will help you to understand why we did what we did...and more importantly, I hope it will help to put the issue to rest, so we all can continue to focus on the real reason that we celebrate (whether on Friday, Saturday or Sunday).

..."Emmanuel, God with us".  The Incarnate Christ...the hope of glory!

Comments

[Doug]

Why does it still surprise me when the people who want to disagree with you... disagree with you no matter what the facts are, no matter what reasonable explanation is given, no matter how many people are being reached with the message, no matter if God is being honored in people's lives, no matter.... Man, I LOVE this church -- almost as much as I love Jesus! Merry Christmas to all!

[Jose Noy]

The report seemed very unfair. I believe people have lost the concept of worshipping God. It seems people think that Sunday is the only time to worship God and preach the good news. I respect the fact that churches want to open the doors on Chrstmas day. I aslo believe that Christmas day is a time to celebrate with family members on a one to one basis. Of couse, there is the fact of opening presents and exchanging gifts, but that is not a material thing but an act of love. I think your expresions where right ont he dot and I think it was wise to have taken Sunday off.

[rick]

well put, pastor :)

[Johan Pernryd]

I just want to wish, from us here in Sweden, all of you a really wonderful christmas. Honor Him with all of your life, all of your days. Christmas or not! Your doing a GREAT job over there. Love your respons on the issue Greg.
From Johan, one of the pastors that visited you in october and who are singing real loud on your new Worship-CD.

[Jim]

A similar perspective:
http://inside.growthtrac.com/inside/2005/12/megachurches_cl.html

[Don Fort]

I'll guess it is a slow news day that leads another local "news" entity to gasp in awe and shock today that this story just unfolded today.

Ditto Doug's thoughts, I don't serve God to be well thought of by the C & E crowd, though I am happy to see them return and hope that they will open the box this time and take His gift. Maybe I'm growing a bit, maybe my perspective has shifted from judgemental to being more willing to help feed his lambs so that they (amd I) mature to be His sheep to be tended and fed.

I LOVE this church and the Joy that prevails, despite heartbreaking assaults I have seen trying to break down its walls. I don't have to judge the seed whence it sprang, I've seen its fruits and I've seen the fruits of other seeds.

[Kathe Young]

I think that the issue of not being open on Christmas Sunday really carries with it an anger about something else that has found a place to vent. It is a little like the council meetings where our building was referred to as an auditorium, not a church. The anger /resentment is there. How sad....We are supposed to be on the same page. You are handling it well! grace and dignity - you can't go wrong!!

[Tony Wise]

Right on the mark!! The real issue is really What day do You Worship? I thought about this & what I came up with is, some that work to protect us & save lives work on Sundays so, Are they excempt from the traditional Sunday Worship services? Does the Bible say anything about people who work so many flexible shifts like Doctors, Nurses, EMS workers ect. Are they excempt from worshiping on Sundays from God because they are put in a position to save lives? No, I know personally some including my Uncle who is a firefighter Worship on rotating Saturday's & Sunday's, as his work is rotating. I know some officers that worship on Saturdays, Is that wrong? Could this be Why God never nailed down a particular day to Worship? Just as long as you get together with the family one day out of the week it says you work 6 days a week but on the 7th day, that is mine. Never nailing down a specific day.
Just some pretty interesting thoughts.
My thought on Churches not having Service on Christmas Sunday is not worth sharing but are Churches next yr gonna have Christmas MONDAY Services??? Lets get real my Brothers & Sisters this really is not worth arguing about.

A proud Seacoaster that will be attending Christmas Eve services at Seacoast West.

[RICHARD REED]

i have no problem with the decision the church made.i believe it is very appropriate for everyone to do their own thing on christmas day.they would of anyway.i think most of the people who are complaining wouldn't have shown up on sunday anyway.you are my pastor and friend,you've never once i've ever known to do anything that would hurt the church or it's members.i have your back at all times.we(my family)respect and honor your decision for all of us.we also love you being our pastor.
take care and please don't let this get to you.
love always the REED FAMILY